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Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Peace Path

Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies. #WeComeFromEverything

This path our people walked
one hundred two hundred endless years
since the tall grass opened for us
and we breathed the incense that sun on prairie
offers to skyPeace offering with each breath
each footstep out of woods
to grasslands plotted with history
removal remediation restoration

Peace flag of fringed prairie orchid
green glow within white froth
calling a moth who nightly
seeks the now-rare scent invisible to us

invisible history of this place
where our great-grandfather a boy
beside two priests and 900 warriors
gaze intent in an 1870 photo
his garments white as orchids

Peace flag white banner with red cross
crowned with thorns held by a boy
at the elbow of a priest
beside Ojibwe warriors beside Dakota warriors

Peace offered after smoke and dance
and Ojibwe gifts of elaborate beaded garments
thrown back in refusal
by Dakota Warriors torn with grief
since their brother’s murder

This is the path our people ran
through white flags of prairie plants
Ojibwe calling Dakota back
to sign one last and unbroken treaty

Peace offering with each breath
each footstep out of woods
to grasslands plotted with history
removal remediation restoration

Two Dakota held up as great men
humbled themselves
to an offer of peace
before a long walk south

before our people entered the trail
walking west and north
where you walk now
where we seek the source

the now-rare scent
invisible as history
history the tall grass opens for us
Breathe the incense of sun on
prairie
Offer peace to the sky

In March, poetry organizations across the country are collaborating on the initiative Because We Come from Everything: Poetry and Migration.
The Academy of American Poets invites you to join in their effort by
sharing these poems about migration, learning more, and helping to
spread the word with #WeComeFromEverything.